


Daddy's Romance

by kumo_is_kumo



Category: SHINee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-13 04:38:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7962763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kumo_is_kumo/pseuds/kumo_is_kumo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Working in a daycare is such a bless for Kibum—taking care of kids—but then what makes it better is the fact that he finds his love there. Moreover, the father of his favorite child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted under Asianfanfics: https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1165187/

Being a teacher at one local daycare near his house is something that Kibum loves in his life. He loves children, and with the natural talent of taking care of kids since his mother is a nurse is some kind of a plus point in his job.

The daycare he is working at is the place to take care of the children after they all finished their study time in the school, waiting for their working parents to pick them up in the evening.

It’s on one fine day of his job with the children coming out from the school, entering the daycare just across the school building.

“Teacher Kim! Teacher Kim!” Someone calls and Kibum turns around, greeting the familiar little boy who has just passed through the gate.

“Oh, hi, Changsun! Just got out from school?”

“Yes! And I bring someone!”

Kibum’s eyes light up and he smiles at the sight of another kid hiding behind the boy, “Hello there. Why do you bring her here, Changsun-ah?”

“She is always waiting alone in the school! She is lonely! So I bring her here! Is it okay, Teacher Kim?”

Kibum nods and smiles. “Of course!”

It’s such a pity that her family is so busy with work and she is so lonely—

Oh my God.

**_She is so cute!_ **

Kibum watches as Changsun pulls the girl from hiding behind him to his sight; she has this pair of beautiful-big-brown eyes and cute cheeks and her lips are so pinkish. Kibum holds himself back from squealing and smiles when the girl turns to look at him.

“Hello there. What’s your name, sweetheart?” Kibum asks softly while crouching down to meet her eyes. She avoids his stare and mumbles shyly, “Bomi…”

“Oh, Bomi, what a cute name! Now, Bomi, what about you come with me and Changsun and greet your new friends? Okay?”

Kibum holds his hand out, waiting for the little girl to hold it and she hesitantly grabs his hand, big eyes still locked onto him. Kibum grinned; she is so cute for God’s sake.

“How old are you, Bomi, dear?” Kibum asks while holding onto the other boy’s hand in his free one. Bomi smiles up at him and shows her fingers.

“Six? Oh, you are so smart!” Kibum coos with a wide smile. He loves this girl already. She giggles and tightens her hold on Kibum’s hand. He leads them to the room where most of the children are currently playing.

“My name is Kim Kibum and you can call me Teacher Kim. Or do you have something in your mind to call me with?” He tells the girl.

She blinks and hums, tapping her chubby fingers on her chin. Kibum grinned; why this kid is so cute, he is slowly losing his mind.

“Teacher Bummie?”

Kibum laughs at the cute nickname; it sure is his nickname for like eternity. “Yeah, sure, you can! Why, if I could ask you?”

“Because then our names are similar... Bummie and Bomi!”

“That’s right!” Kibum exclaims at her as they stop in front of one closed purple door. But then Kibum crouches down in front of her.

“Say, Bomi-ah, do you know your family’s phone number that I can contact? I have to call them and tell them that you are here with me so they don’t have to be worried.”

She nods her head and pulls a small pinky notebook from her bag. She flips onto a certain page and shows it to Kibum.

“Daddy said I have to write down the important phone numbers so I could call them if I got troubles!”

Kibum pats her head, “Such a smart girl! Now, let’s go inside and I will call your Dad, okay?”

He pushes open the door and when he is greeted with the sight of children playing around, his heart warms up. “Now, now, kids! We have a new friend!”

The children stop playing and they grin at the sight of the new cute girl. They all wave at her and Kibum chuckles when Bomi tightens her hold around his hand. He squeezes her hand back, comforting her.

“Her name is Bomi and I hope you can be good friends to her! No fighting, okay? Promise me?”

“Yes, Teacher Kim!” They all shout in agreement. Kibum nods proudly and then turns to the little girl beside him. Changsun has gone to play with the puzzles in the corner of the room, completely forgetting that he is the one who has brought the girl here.

“You can go play now, Bomi. Be good, okay?”

She scrunches up her nose cutely and shakes her head no. Kibum blinks questioningly at her. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Can’t you stay with me, Teacher Bummie?”

Kibum smiles. “You want me to stay with you?” He asks while holding onto both of her hands. She nods and Kibum doesn’t have heart to say no to her. Not when she is this cute.

“Alright. But let me call you family first. Okay?”

“Yes!” Bomi nods her head.

Kibum walks to the office, with one arm propping the girl against on his left hip. He stares at the handwriting of the girl: **_Daddy—010-xxx-xxx_**

The boring tone of the call greets his ear and after a few moments, someone answers the call.

“Yes? Who is this?”

“Ah, good afternoon, Sir. Is this Bomi’s father?”

“Yeah? Who are you? Something happened with Bomi?” The man from the other line asks worriedly.

Kibum quickly stops him from worrying by answering, “No. I’m Teacher Kim from the Rainbow Daycare. The place is just right across the school, Sir. I just want to tell you that one of Bomi’s friend—Changsun—brings Bomi here and since I heard that Bomi usually waits by herself, I suggest that she stays here with us from now on. It’s dangerous to let her stay alone in the empty school.”

The man sighs in relief and hums hesitantly, “I see. Alright, thank you. Please take care of my child. We will talk about this later when I have time.”

“Yes, Sir. Have a nice day and thank you.”

With that, Kibum hangs up the call and smiles to the girl in his arm. “I’m done. What do you want to do now?” He asks while walking back to the play room.

She grins happily and takes her red bag, pulling out her drawing book. “Can we draw, Teacher Bummie?”

“Sure!”

Who knows that this girl will be the one bringing the pure happiness into his life?

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kibum swears this girl is the most active kid in the whole world. She is jumping and running and laughing and blabbering and Kibum claims on defeat. Not that she is annoying but he feels like she is so happy that someone is paying attention to her.

It’s finally the time of parents picking up their children. Kibum bows to the parents who are thanking him and the other teachers for taking care of their child. In no minutes, most children are gone with their parents and Kibum looks back into his classroom.

“Bomi?”

The said girl lifts her head up from her drawing book and she smiles. Kibum gets closer to her and sits beside her. “What time will your Mommy come to get you?”

She shakes her head no before saying, “I don’t have a Mommy, Teacher Bummie.”

Kibum felt his heart sinks down. “Excuse me?”

“Daddy said, Mommy and Daddy didn’t love each other anymore a year after I was born so they are not together anymore now. Is that even possible, Teacher Bummie? Can people stop loving each other?”

Kibum is left speechless. Uh, what should he say to her?

“It’s... something possible sometimes. When we love someone, we don’t know whether that person will be the one we will spend out life with or just someone who is unreachable for us...”

Bomi hums, not really understand why her teacher sounds sad at that but then she crawls up onto his lap and cradles his face in her little palms. Kibum is taken aback at her sudden act. “Don’t be sad, Teacher Bummie!”

“I’m not sad, sweetheart,” Kibum murmurs before nuzzling his nose against her palms. Her laugh is resonating in the empty classroom and they both giggle together afterwards.

The familiar car stops in front of the daycare and Bomi squeals in delight.

“Yay!”

Kibum looks through the window and sees that one blue car, hearing the car lets out a soft honking sound. “Is that your family, Bomi?”

The girl nods and quickly crawls away from him, pushing her books and crayons into her back messily. Kibum chuckles at her and decides to help her with her packing. “Should we go outside?”

“Um!” She nods in excitement.

He holds onto her hand while holding her bag in his free hand. It’s time for the girl to go back home, even though Kibum feels like missing her already. The door of the car is opened and one certain man steps out.

Kibum readies himself to smile to the girl’s family member, but then his smile drops at the sight of this familiar man.

“Kibum?” The voice that Kibum knows the most calls, the surprise in the tone is clearly heard.

“...m-minho?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

“So... is Bomi your daughter?” Kibum asks, fingers fiddling nervously with his sweater.

Minho chuckles and shakes his head, “No. I’m her uncle. Her father is my cousin.”

Kibum breathes out in relief. He doesn’t know why he does that though. “I see...”

Both of them stay silent; their eyes are locked onto the happy girl playing on swing all by herself.

“Say, Kibum,”

“Mm?” Kibum hums questioningly, internally thanking him for breaking the awkward silence between them. The tall man sitting beside him grins before glancing to him, “How long was it already?”

Kibum smiles at the memory and nods to himself, “Five years...?”

“Yeah. I haven’t heard from you for that long.”

“You know... You studied abroad after we finished high school,” Kibum whispers with a smile. Minho sighs and hums, “And you are only staying here?”

“Yeah...”

“...how are you then?” Minho asks hesitantly. Kibum looks at him and shrugs with a smile, “Just like what you see right now.”

Minho chuckles and nods his head. “Good. By the way, Kibum-ah,”

“Yes?”

“You are... not angry with me?” The taller man questions carefully, watching the expression of Kibum’s face.

Kibum blinks. “Why should I?”

“I mean... you have the right.”

“No, I don’t, Minho. Don’t worry about it,” Kibum says in reassurance. The taller man furrows his eyebrows, “You sure?”

“Yeah, I am. It’s not your fault that we broke up after high school and... you do know we didn’t really have that feeling towards each other, right?”

Minho blinks at his words before laughing, “Yeah. And you are still that blunt kid, I see!”

“And you are still this laughing kid, I see!” Kibum teases back sarcastically before laughing together with him. They laugh for a few good minutes before a content smile decorating their face.

“We are friends now, right, Kibum?”

“Of course! Why are you asking, silly?” Kibum asks back while playfully punching the taller man’s upper arm.

Minho pretends to wince before shrugging, “Just asking. Well... I think it’s time to go home. Bomi is tired already. I think it’s a good idea to put her into a daycare since she doesn’t really have that much friends. And I can put her in your care because I believe in you.”

“Yeah, you have to. I love her already even though this is only her first day,” Kibum laughs fondly while standing up from the bench.

“Bomi-ah, let’s go home!”

“Yesh, Uncle!”

“So... see you again, Kibum?”

“Yeah, see you again, Minho-yah.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few weeks pass and Kibum knows that this girl is a miracle. Well, she is so lively and she is also smart. Kibum loves her. Really, really loves her.

She grows closer to the children in the daycare; playing together and Kibum almost forgets the shy face she has on the first day before. Not to mention that she grows as the closest kid to Kibum from all of them. He can’t blame it; she is just so adorable and with the fact that Bomi likes their similar name, she just can’t leave him alone even for a second.

It is that another usual day when Kibum is waiting for Minho to come and get Bomi from the daycare. But then Minho is nowhere to be found. He grows worried since Minho always comes on time, but today seems different.

“Where’s your Uncle, Bomi-ah?”

Bomi shakes her head as the answer and Kibum sighs. Don’t say that that tall kid forgets... The girl on his lap turns around and smiles. Kibum tilts his head questioningly while returning her smile. “What is it, Bomi?”

“You know, Teacher Bummie...”

“Yeah?”

“Teacher Bummie is so pretty!” Bomi exclaims with clapping her hands together and Kibum feels his cheeks blush. Aigoo, kids nowadays.

“What makes you say that, Bomi?” He asks while gently tickling her sides. Bomi wriggles happily and smiles so wide that Kibum wants to squeeze her. “Your smile is so pretty!”

Bomi lifts her chubby fingers up, touching the side of Kibum’s cheek. “Dimples!”

Kibum hums and giggles, rubbing his nose against the girl’s. “You also have dimples, Bomi! Then you are pretty, too!”

Bomi laughs, gripping onto Kibum’s sweater before burying her face on it.

“And Teacher Bummie is so warm... Your warmth is like Daddy’s...”

Kibum stops laughing at the words and smiles, hugging her close with a hum leaving his mouth. “I see. What else?”

“I don’t know... But I love Teacher Bummie!” Bomi says with a loud voice, resulting Kibum into a laughing mess. “I see! I love you, too, Bomi. You don’t even know how much I really do.”

“Really?” Bomi asks him with this big-round shining eyes and Kibum giggles at the adorable sight. “Really!”

“Yay! Teacher Bummie loves me! I’m going to tell Daddy later!”

Kibum grins and caresses her soft black hair gently, looking out to the street to see the familiar blue car. Where is Minho—

One black sleek car honks softly and stops behind the wall beside the gate. Bomi looks around and smiles. “Ah! He’s coming!”

“Who is it, Bomi?”

“It’s Daddy! Daddy!” Bomi exclaims in happiness, jumping down from Kibum’s lap and running towards the gate. Kibum smiles, as he is unable to stop her from running and just lets her to do so. It is night already and she must be missing her dad a lot.

“Bomi, I’m so sorry, but Uncle Minho is having lots of works!” The voice says apologetically and Kibum stays inside, trying to look at the person behind the wall. But then Bomi looks like so happy to meet her Daddy that she forgets about Kibum. He shrugs with a smile and decides to get back into the classroom; only to halt on his tracks when suddenly he hears the high-pitched voice.

“Good night, Teacher Bummie! I see you tomorrow!”

Kibum turns around and hums, about to wave to the girl before the smile drops from his face. The man who is holding onto Bomi is no other than his ideal man.

 

 

 

**_And this is where our real love story begins._ **

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey, hyung,” the deep voice says from the line of the call.

“What is it, Minho?”

“I have lots of works right now and they are due on tomorrow. I don’t think I could get Bomi from the daycare!”

“What? Why don’t you tell me sooner?”

“I’m sorry! But the documents just came to me and I don’t think I could go back home today!”

“Alright. Thanks for informing, Minho.”

“Yeah. You should go and pick Bomi up. It’s already half an hour late from the usual time and I’m sure Bomi misses you, Jonghyun hyung.”

“Okay, see you, Minho. Thanks.”

Jonghyun sighs, rubbing his temple while waiting for his computer to shut down. His baby girl is still in the daycare and Minho is too busy to pick her.

“I guess I’m going then.”

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

Jonghyun has never come to pick her daughter before. As the CEO and the leader figure of the company, Jonghyun feels like he is wasting most of his time in his office rather than at home. He wants to spend more time with his daughter but then the works are too much for him to handle and Jonghyun feels like he is going crazy soon.

He stops his car in front of this one daycare with colorful outer walls, looking around for a few seconds before honking his car to let them know that he is here. He hears the muffled voice of ‘Daddy’ from inside the car and Jonghyun grins. Oh, how he misses his cutie Bomi.

He quickly gets out from the car and scoops the girl running excitedly into his arms.

“Bomi, I’m so sorry, but Uncle Minho is having lots of works and he is so busy right now! Do you wait for so long? I’m really sorry, baby.”

“It’s okay, Daddy! Because you are here! I miss you so much!” Bomi cackles, throwing her arms open to emphasize the word ‘much’.

Jonghyun feels his heart swells in adoration towards his own daughter, “I miss you too, cutie pie. Should we get home now?”

“No, wait! I have to say goodbye first!” Bomi pouts and demands him to walks over to the gate.

With her famous high-pitched voice, Bomi shouts, “Good night, Teacher Bummie! I see you tomorrow!” complete with an excited hand waving.

_Teacher Bummie?_ Jonghyun frowns at the childish nickname.

Then he sees one petite man turning around and waving to his daughter, and that’s when his world freezes. He sees one man; a beautiful one on top of that, standing by the door to the dark and empty classroom, waving to his daughter when their eyes are locked together.

Jonghyun feels this familiar feeling of the quick thumping of his heart when the teacher’s eyes run nowhere, not even brave enough to keep the eye contact with him. He grips tighter onto his daughter, mind blank for all of sudden. The CEO runs his gaze from those feline-like eyes, down to his button-like nose, and then his bow-shaped lips. Not to mention his dimpled smile.

It feels so familiar.

Yet it feels so foreign as well.

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

Kibum grips onto the fabric of his pants, feeling the sweat is starting to form on his skin of his palms. He doesn’t know what exactly is happening, but he feels his hands are trembling without any particular reason. There, stood the ideal man of his life, dressed in the black suit, with the loosened tie hanging around his neck, strong arms holding onto the cute little girl whom happens to be his favorite kid in the whole world.

He is taken aback when suddenly the man steps closer; slowly pushing the gate open, while bowing a bit at him.

“Hello? I’m guessing you are Bomi’s teacher?” The man questions and Kibum feels himself shivers.

Holy sunshine, his voice.

Nodding as an answer as Kibum doesn’t trust himself to speak, he tries to smile back and he bets it looks miserable. The man grins at him and takes more steps closer; the girl in his arms smiles happily at the thought of getting closer to her teacher again.

“Do you mind, Bomi? Daddy wants to greet your teacher first,”

Bomi shakes her head no and grins when her father steps closer to the frozen teacher by the doorway. Jonghyun stops, giving out his best smile to the frozen man before bowing again.

“I’m so sorry because you have to take care of my daughter until this late. My cousin is busy with his works and I just have gotten the time to come here now. I should have come from the very beginning as Bomi’s dad, but I guess this is my chance.”

Kibum shakes his head, smiling nervously while taking one step back.

“N-No, it’s fine... It’s nice to finally meet you, Sir. Bomi is such a smart and polite girl.”

“Why are you being so formal with me?” Jonghyun asks the teacher in front of him, all smiles while his mind is currently thinking, where does he see him before?

“Ah, I’m so sorry, but... Well...” Kibum mumbles embarrassedly while fiddling his fingers, the sign when he is nervous and shy. How can someone as handsome as Bomi’s father appears in front of him?

Jonghyun laughs to ease the awkward tension; he himself also doesn’t know why this is so awkward and tensing. He adjusts the way Bomi is slowly dozing while leaning on his shoulder, watching the little girl with so much love.

“Bomi is so tired already,” Kibum whispers softly as to not disturb the sleeping kid while his eyes are locked onto the child. Jonghyun hums in knowledge, caressing his daughter’s hair gently.

“I think it’s time for us to go home. Thank you so much for your care, Teacher...?”

“Teacher Kim. I’m Teacher Kim Kibum.”

Jonghyun’s lips curve up into a smile and he nods, bowing his head a bit before taking steps back.

“I’m Kim Jonghyun. Alright, Teacher Kim, we are going now. Thank you.”

Kibum bows while greeting the father and the daughter with a gentle ‘Good night’ before turning on his heels and enters the classroom with red face. God, he is so attractive.

“’Bum?” A gentle voice calls from the inside of the locker room. Kibum quickly locks the door to the classroom while secretly listening to the sound of the car driving away. He enters the locker room, smiling at the man sitting patiently on the bench.

“You are done?” The person asks and Kibum grins. He takes his bag from his locker and grabs onto the man’s hand, pulling him up from the bench.

“Let’s go home! I’m sleepy!” Kibum whines, hugging the man’s arm while jumping on the spot like a kid. The man laughs at his act, mumbling a soft ‘A kid taking care of other kids is an amazing thing’. Kibum glares at him, tightening his hold around the slightly taller man’s arm.

“Don’t think that I don’t hear your mumble, Lee Jinki.”

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry. Oh, our little Bummie is whining again!”

“I’m not!” Kibum lets out a protest while puffing his cheeks, looking away from the man—Jinki. He laughs, pinching onto Kibum’s nose playfully, earning a whine from him.

“Jinki hyung!”

“Stop pouting! I won’t give you my chicken later!”

“You won’t give me your chicken even when I’m not pouting!” Kibum argues in disbelief, eyes widening while he talks. Jinki grins amusedly, shrugging before laughing loudly, followed by Kibum.

“Hey, hyung,” Kibum calls while leaning his head on the taller man’s shoulder as they walk back home. Jinki hums to let him continue his words.

“Bomi said I’m pretty earlier. Am I really that pretty?” Kibum asks with widening eyes, staring up at the man beside him. Jinki grins, nodding his head in agreement. Kibum huffs.

“I don’t want to be called pretty though. Why do people keep on looking on my dimples?”

“Because your dimples are indeed cute, Bummie,” Jinki says while poking the said cheek with his free hand. Kibum swats his hand away, groaning in such an adorable way before managing a more comfortable position of his head on the man’s shoulder.

“Forget it. What do you want for dinner tonight, hyung?”

“Can we have chicken, Bum?”

Kibum scoffs, rolling his eyes.

“Should have seen that one coming.”

Jinki simply grins, tightening his hold around the petite male before making their way to the door of their house.

“Where’s your key, Bummie? Mine is in my bag, too lazy to take it out...”

“Lazy ass. In my pocket, take it yourself but don’t grab my ass, hyung.”

“Bummie, do you think I’m such a pervert?” The older male questions with a fake sob and Kibum sticks his tongue out at him. Kibum enters the house once Jinki unlocks the door, wincing tiredly. He yelps when suddenly a light hit is landed on his butt.

“Hyung! What was that for?”

“For being a naughty kid,” the older male grins teasingly. Kibum rolls his eyes before making his way to the couch.

“Hyung, sit here. I want to cuddle.”

“The cuddly kitty Bummie is back, eh?” Jinki asks before sauntering to the couch, wrapping his arms around the younger man. Kibum hums, snuggling close to the man’s neck.

“Stay like this for a while, hyung.”

“Okay.”

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

Jonghyun stops the car once they have arrived. He glances at the adorable sight of his sleeping daughter, warm feeling in his chest. He doesn’t want to wake her up but he has to.

“Bomi-ah, wake up, sweetie.”

Bomi scrunches her nose up annoyed, before blinking her eyes.

“Daddy?”

“We are home. Let’s get inside and you can sleep, okay?”

Bomi hums, yawning cutely before lifting her arms up, wanting to be lifted up. Jonghyun laughs at her, pecking her face with overly smooching sounds, pulling loud giggles from the little girl.

He chats with her on the way up to her room, listening to the way Bomi tells her day with sleepy voice. Jonghyun grins, nodding his head excitedly at the way his daughter is telling him this certain classmate of her. And when Bomi is laughing while clapping her hands, Jonghyun’s grin gets wider.

“Sleep well, okay?” Jonghyun whispers after they got rid of her uniform. Bomi smiles between her yawning, hands grabbing onto her dad’s face.

“I love you, Daddy,” Bomi whispers after pecking his cheek. Jonghyun grins and kisses her temple.

“I love you, too. Sleep tight, Princess.”

He closes the door behind his back, taking off tie before throwing it away once he enters his own room. Jonghyun sighs, wanting to spend more time with his daughter but his works are getting on his way.

He lays down on his bed, not bothering to take off his crumpled dress shirt. His mind goes back to the moment he meets Bomi’s teacher earlier. What is his name again?

...ah.

Teacher Kim.

Kim Kibum.

Where has he heard that name before? It sounds familiar, very, very familiar, Jonghyun knows that. He frowns, eyes closing in concentration but he can’t even find any clue. Jonghyun is known for his slow thinking and silly ideas; and Jonghyun knows that what people say is true.

He knows it. He has heard that name before. But where?

 

 

 

 

**_“Hey, Jonghyun! Bummie smiled to you! Why are you so lucky?!”_ **

**_“Damn it, Jonghyun! I want Bummie to smile at me, too!”_ **

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

“Jinki hyung, today Bomi’s father came,” Kibum mumbles sleepily against the older man’s upper arm. Jinki hums, patting his back.

“Oh? Just now?”

“Yeah,” Kibum nods before continuing with, “and I feel like he is so familiar. It feels like I have seen him before. But I don’t know where or when...”

“Are you sure? People sometime mistake someone as someone else, too, you know...”

“I’m really sure it is someone else. But the more I repeat his face and his name in my mind, I feel like I have known him from before...”

“Really? What’s his name then? Maybe I know him?”

“His name’s... Kim Jonghyun...”

It’s close. Kibum knows it. The string is just there and he just needs to force his brain to think a little bit more until finally he remembers that—

 

 

 

 

**_“Bummie, do you see that? Jonghyun is staring at you!”_ **

**_“Yes, Bummie! You should smile to him! Come on, do it!”_ **

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

Both men snap their eyes open, as the memory hits them hardly, like it has just happened yesterday.

Jonghyun abruptly rises up from his bed, fingers pulling onto his messy locks.

Kibum gasps, jumping away from the couch.

With the same thought, they feel their heart is thundering so quick that it scares them, and:

 

 

 

**_Oh no. He was my high school crush._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Birthday celebration update. Enjoy. ^^


	3. Chapter 3

“Bummie?” The man on the couch asks, eyes narrowing confusedly. Kibum gasps for air just like a fish out of the water, eyes glancing from one spot to another before he groans out.

“Oh my God. This is so not happening!”

“What’s wrong? What is it?” Jinki asks.

“Jinki hyung, I know who Bomi’s father is!” Kibum exclaims with terror in his voice. Jinki furrows his eyebrows and nods, waiting for Kibum to continue.

“Yeah?”

“He is—”

 

 

 

 

 

“Damn it, how could I forget his name?” Jonghyun slams his head down onto the pillow. “Why are you so stupid, Kim Jonghyun?! You were going after him before!!!”

Groaning, Jonghyun lets himself falls down onto the bed for once again, and then putting his arm over his face. Shit, things get so difficult now.

Everything seems to click back right to their places, like the most fitted puzzle pieces. One image, then another one, to another, and then more flashbacks hit Jonghyun right on his mind more clearly.

“Life is playing with me right now...” Jonghyun murmurs, giving up.

The image of a smiling Kim Kibum as an adult stops his brain from working and Jonghyun feels himself blushes.

“Why is this happening to me?”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

“Jinki hyung, what should I do now?” Kibum whines while shaking the older man’s arm. Jinki hums in deep thinking, bottom lip jutting out as he is pondering over the ideas in his head.

“Do you think he remembers you?”

“I... don’t know? I mean, if he remembers me than he should be acting like... him before...”

Kibum frowns as the picture of a grinning Kim Jonghyun is flashing in his mind. That kid with the senior uniform and golden blonde hair.

“But... he acted as if that was our first meeting just now... so I guess... no?”

“Then what are you afraid of? I mean, he looks like he doesn’t remember you, from what you tell me, so why don’t you act like yourself? If he doesn’t tell you that he remembers you then don’t say anything as well.” The older male states, nodding his head like the wise one.

Kibum beams.

“I see! Jinki hyung, you are so smart just for time like this!” Kibum jumps back onto the couch, arms enveloping the older male into a tight hug. Jinki groans as Kibum is planting wet kisses all over his face.

“Bummie, stop it!” He grunts loudly, trying his best to push the male away.

“Why? You seem to like my kisses before!” Kibum feigns a shock, holding a hand over his chest.

“That was before! Now is different! Act like an adult for once, Kibummie!”

“Hey!” Kibum gasps in offence, before he finally grins again.

“Jinki hyung, what can I do without you, huh?”

“Nothing,” Jinki simply says before pushing him away and walking to the kitchen.

Kibum smiles, “I’ll make extra chicken for you!” He shouts from the living room. He hears the shocked gasp from the kitchen, followed by the surprise voice of, “REALLY?!”

Yeah, there’s nothing to worry about. As long as Jonghyun does not remember him.

Remember the past Kibummie is not allowed.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

“Teacher Bummie!” The happy voice calls in excitement, loud and clear. Kibum turns from putting the colorful books on the shelf and goes down on his knees, waiting for the running girl with opened arms.

“Hey, Bomi dear!”

“I miss you!” Bomi whispers excitedly while snuggling onto his chest, letting out a soft purr like a little kitten. Kibum laughs and pokes her nose, “But you saw me just last night!”

“It’s not enough! I love you so much that I want you to be by my side all the time!” Bomi says and Kibum feels his heart skips a beat. Oh, such innocent and honest words from a little kid.

“Are you hungry, Bomi-ah? Did you have your lunch already?”

Bomi shakes her head no while patting her tummy, “I’m hungry! But I don’t bring enough money to buy anything from school—”

“Do you... want to eat with me?” Kibum offers, all smiles on his face. Bomi stares up at him, big and round eyes shining in pure happiness before she shakes his arm back and forth.

“Really? Can I really eat with you?”

“Of course!” Kibum nods and Bomi cheers, “I bring too much food in my lunch box so... let’s eat!”

He lifts the girl into his arms and Bomi squeals as they run.

 

 

 

 

 

**_Jonghyun remembered this certain boy; his junior who happened to be this famous boy because of his beauty. The whole school went crazy because of him and his smiles. Jonghyun really wanted to know which one was the person._ **

**_He only knew the name; Kim Kibum._ **

**_But then on one particular day, Jonghyun felt as if he was the luckiest person ever to be able to see the said boy. Kim Kibum, or what they always called with ‘Bummie’ had a pair of feline-like eyes, cute button nose, plump lips, and the most important one was the dimple smile. Dimple. Everyone couldn’t resist dimple._ **

**_Jonghyun could never forget the time when he locked eyes with the said boy and Kibum smiled at him._ **

**_Kim Kibum smiled at him. Bummie smiled at him!_ **

**_He knew that he fell in love with this boy but then, who was Jonghyun to even start with? He was just this normal high school boy, a senior on top of that, and he knew that he was not gay. He was not gay. He kept on repeating the words in his mind._ **

**_Kim Kibum might be very beautiful and took his heart away; but Jonghyun knew that in the end, he still had to marry the girl his father chose for him and continued the company his father had prepared for him. His life was planned before he was born, so what other choice he had?_ **

**_Kim Jonghyun knew that this ‘love at the first sight’ was just a simple high school crush, a puppy crush, and it stopped there. No more. He kept on saying that but in the end; Jonghyun knew that he would never be able to forget this Kim Kibum._ **

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

Jonghyun feels like he forgets the way to breathe as he stares at the dimple smile. He misses that sight so freaking much.

But now with Kibum standing right in front of him, Jonghyun doesn’t know what to do. No, it’s just a rhetorical saying; Kibum is not standing in front of him for real. There is no way Kim Kibum could be standing in the middle of his office.

“Argh,” Jonghyun slams his head down to the desk, ignoring the documents all over it and the sound coming from his head and the desk. Minho stops by the doorway, eyes widening in surprise while his hands are holding on some documents.

“Hyung? Are you okay?”

“What? Oh, you.” Jonghyun scrambles up; rearranging his reading glasses and clears his throat awkwardly.

“So, what’s up?” He croaks out, wincing at how pitiful it comes out.

Watching in amusement, the younger male smirks.

“What are you doing just now? You were so out of it.”

“Nothing, really,” Jonghyun sends him an innocent smile, hands grabbing any paper he could find and tries to read it. Minho chuckles before laughing, and then closes the door behind him and enters the room to see a pouting Jonghyun.

“Don’t pout, hyung. It doesn’t suit you. Only Bomi who could pull out that trick.”

“Geez, fine!”

Throwing his hands in the air, Jonghyun admits on defeat. He could never win anything against the stick man.

“So, Minho.” Jonghyun starts again, grabbing the other’s attention.

“’Sup?”

“I met... Bomi’s teacher yesterday. The one at the daycare.” He tries to act nonchalant, and thankfully the younger male doesn’t think much about it.

“Ah, yeah, so what’s with him?” Minho asks, fully interested. Jonghyun furrows his eyebrows at the sudden change of act.

“Nothing. He just seems... nice? Bomi seems to like him so much.” He mutters, mind replaying the smile the male was giving him last night. He feels the sudden urge to blush but shakes it off. Minho will use it to blackmail him for the rest of his life if he ever knows.

“Yeah,” Minho says, “of course he is,” he mutters the last part, tone fond.

Jonghyun skeptically watches him but decides not to question about it. The younger male gives him the documents he has been holding for a while before walking towards the door to leave.

Before he closes the door, Minho sticks his head in and says, “I will take Bomi home again today. See you later, hyung.”

Jonghyun opens his mouth to argue but Minho has closed the door and leaves his office.

Disappointment fills Jonghyun’s mind. He is hoping to see the cutie Bumm—no, I mean Bomi’s teacher.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

Kibum fidgets on his spot as he waits for the last parents to take the child away a.k.a. Bomi’s father. He feels so nervous even though he has been repeating the same sentence in his mind ‘ ** _he does not remember you so don’t you worry_** ’.

There a tugging on his trouser and Kibum looks down, finding the girl staring at him in curiosity.

“Yes?”

“Teacher Bummie, did you see my daddy yesterday?”

Oh God, from all other questions, why **_this_**?

“Y-Yeah, I did. What’s with him?” Kibum tries to act oblivious but when the girl’s face lights up in happiness; he feels the sudden dread filling his gut.

“Isn’t my daddy handsome, Teacher Bummie?” She exclaims, hopping up and down on her spot. Kibum winces inwardly. Damn it, dead end.

“Y-Yes, of course! N-No wonder you are so pretty, Bomi-yah!” Kibum tries to switch the topic. The girl giggles, spreading her hands to be picked up, muttering “up, up, up!”

Kibum picks her up into his arms and she snuggles into his shoulder.

“Daddy is so handsome... Sometimes people come and talk to Daddy but he will refuse them and hug me tight, saying ‘you are my only one, Bomi’. Isn’t he sweet, Teacher Bummie?”

Kibum smiles at the thought and hums in agreement. “Indeed. He is so sweet.”

“And he is my daddy!” She laughs, chubby fingers clutching onto his shirt.

There’s a sound of honking car and Minho greets them by the gate.

“Yo!” He salutes them, a smile playing on his lips.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

“Bomi-yah, stay still!” Minho half-scolds while laughing, watching the girl runs here and there. Kibum fidgets with the juice in his hands and watches the girl in amusement.

“Hey, Minho,” he calls.

“What is it?” The tall male answers with a smile.

Kibum shrugs, “You are not married yet?”

Minho seems to be taken aback by the question and he laughs.

“No. Haven’t found anyone yet. With works and Bomi, I don’t think I have enough time to date.”

“Why are you being the busy one taking care of her? Where’s her father?” Kibum couldn’t help but feels curious.

Minho breathes out and leans back to the bench.

“You know, Bomi’s father is the CEO of the company. He is so busy and sometimes I pity him. He doesn’t have much time to rest but he still makes some time for Bomi. Despite his busy schedule, he loves his daughter so much.”

Kibum watches Bomi hops on the sand box, her round eyes twinkling in happiness.

“She keeps on talking about her father.” The teacher says with a smile. “She loves him so much.”

“Of course. No matter how busy he is, Bomi will always be his first priority.” Minho agrees.

They watch the girl plays happily before finally Minho breaks the silence again.

“Hey, can I get your number?” He takes his phone out and Kibum blinks, before grinning.

“Ha. What is it that you want?”

“Reminiscing the old times?” Minho tries to joke. Kibum rolls his eyes and takes the phone, putting his number in.

“Just don’t call me in the middle of the night unless you are in an emergency state. I need my beauty sleep.”

Minho laughs loudly, “Alright! I would never disturb the sleeping beauty! When are you free, by the way? Want to go for a cup of coffee?”

Kibum scoffs. “Tomorrow’s my day off.”

“Call. I will text you the place.” Minho says, getting up and ruffling the other’s hair. Kibum wails at his act, swatting his hand away with a grumble leaving his lips.

“Bomi! Let’s go home!”

“Okay!” The girl shrieks, jumping out of the sand box.

He straps her into the seat and Kibum waves at her. Minho turns to him and pats him on the shoulder.

“See you tomorrow, Bum.”

“Yeah, see you. And stop calling me that.” Kibum huffs, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“You never complained before.” Minho sends him a teasing smile.

“I did. You are just too stubborn to stop.” He banters back.

At Minho’s laugh, Kibum grins as well. “Okay, I’ll be going now.”

“Bye. Take care.”

 

 

 

 

 

The car drives away and Kibum sighs. He turns on his heels and flinches in surprise as he finds someone standing right behind him, covering his mouth before he could wake up the whole neighborhood.

“Lee Jinki!!” He hisses.

“Sorry.” Jinki gives him his goofy smile. “Who was that?”

“Minho. Choi Minho. Do you remember him?”

“Choi...” Jinki taps his chin, thinking in a Sherlock pose. Kibum walks pass him and enters the classroom to check some things.

“Ah, I know! He was the one who was going after you, right? The one who got into your pants?”

Kibum glares at him in anger. “Do you need to mention that part? And no, he didn’t!”

“I thought you said you fucked?” Jinki frowns in confusion. Kibum pinches his arm and Jinki winces in pain, muttering the repetition of ‘sorry’.

“And I thought you understood when I said we stopped before it could happen?”

“Ah, I guess I forgot that part...” Jinki mutters.

Rolling his eyes, Kibum grabs his things and begins to walk back to their shared house. Jinki grins and follows him, holding him by his waist.

“Are you angry with me?” Jinki asks, nudging his face to his shoulder.

“Yes and no.” Kibum huffs.

Jinki chuckles and kisses his cheek. “Come on, don’t be angry. I will cook the dinner tonight.”

Kibum gives him a side glance. “You promise?”

“Yeah, I promise. Anything for you, my Kibummie.” Jinki beams. Kibum sighs in defeat; no one could resist that goofy smile.

“Fine. I want to eat udon tonight.”

“Eh? But it’s hard to make that!” Jinki protests.

Kibum mutters mockingly, “’ ** _...anything for my Kibummie._** ’”

Jinki hums, “Alright, alright! Don’t pout or I will kiss you!”

Kibum shrieks and runs away. Jinki laughs loudly and grabs him by his waist, holding onto him to stay still on his spot. Kibum wriggles before giving up, leaning onto his shoulder as they continue their walk home.

 

 

 

“Who’s that with him?” Jonghyun mutters, fists gripping onto the steering wheel.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys see some hints I leave there? About their relationship? And also, thank you so much for all the supports for this story! I'm happy to know that many of you guys are waiting for the update! Please let me know what you think about this chapter, okay?


	4. Chapter 4

Kibum fidgets around in front of the mirror. Jinki watches in amusement as he lazes around on the bed, sucking onto a candy.

“I don’t want to see any candy pieces on my bed, hyung.”

Jinki rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

“How about this? Do I look okay?” Kibum asks as he spins around, waiting for the judgement from the older male. He is wearing a denim jacket with black t-shirt under it and completed with white skinny jeans.

Jinki makes a sound. “Sure, I guess.”

“I need an honest word, hyung. Do I look good enough?”

“You said it’s going to be a friendly date. Why are you trying so hard to look good?”

Kibum tenderly touches his styled hair. “I still need to look good in a friendly date.”

The older male laughs, almost stumbling out of the bed before he regains his footing.

“Don’t forget your wallet! And your phone! Don’t follow someone you don’t know! Do you need condoms yet—Argh!” Jinki recoils in pain as Kibum gives him a hard punch on his arm.

“Do not act like you are my dad! And no sex talk!”

“Kibum! For all we know, that Choi guy might still be after you! What would you do if suddenly he brings you to a hotel? You are not going to be able to resist a tall man, because as the words say: tall guy, tall gun.”

“Eww. No more chick flicks for you, old man.” Kibum makes a disgusted voice, walking out of his room to the kitchen. With a glass of water in his hand, he chugs it down and Jinki is still blabbering about ‘safety’ and ‘protection’ and ‘STDs’. What the hell is going on with that guy.

“Hyung. For the very last time, he is not interested with me and he is not going to “bring me to a hotel”, as you said.” Kibum air-quotes the words. He sure lives with one paranoid male here.

Jinki crosses his arms in front of his chest, puffing his cheeks. “Fine. But you are so going to pay for it when you find out how right I am.”

“Sure, sure. In your dreams.” Kibum mutters in disinterest while making his way towards the door.

As soon as he slips into his shoes, he waves a nonchalant bye to the older male and closes the door before Jinki could say another ridiculous thing.

And now… off he goes for the friendly date.

“Hey! Did you wait long? Sorry, traffic was suck.” Minho’s panting voice greets him as the tall male slips into the seat in front of him.

Kibum looks at the way Minho is wearing casual outfit and he looks surprisingly very attractive. He would fall for him if he doesn’t know how he reacts over a soccer game.

“Nah, it’s fine. I ordered beforehand, I hope you don’t mind.” He gestures to his milkshake because quietly speaking; he is thirsty from the summer heat.

Minho shakes his hand, a laugh spills out of his mouth. “No, no. I will just make an order first.” Then he stands up to the counter.

Kibum locks his eyes onto his friend and makes notes that Minho does look good. He is tall and the up style he has for his hair makes him looks even taller. He is wearing a fitting dress shirt colored in navy blue (and Kibum could see his protruding abs) and black jeans to show his long legs. He screams ‘rich’ just with one quick glance. And as his eyes accidentally trail down, well, he is well endowed.

“You are not working today?” Kibum asks as Minho comes back with his order of cakes and drink.

“No. The company won’t break down just because of one missed day without my presence.”

Kibum hums as he grabs a fork to slice over the strawberry cheesecake. A delighted moan escapes his mouth as soon as he eats it. Minho gives him an amused grin.

“Still acting like that, I see.” He comments.

“What do you mean?”

Minho sips onto his drink. “You still squeal like a girl over a cake.”

A faint blush covers Kibum’s cheeks. “What the hell. I do not squeal!”

“And you still deny it.”

“Frog!” Kibum glares at him, pulling a laugh from the tall male.

“You are still uncreative! Enough with the frog already, it’s getting old, Kibum!”

Kibum huffs, but a telltale of smile is playing on his lips. “Well, you are still a frog to me, so you can’t blame me. Blame yourself for resembling one.”

Minho narrows his eyes teasingly, “I could be a frog, if you would be the princess.”

Kibum chokes. “What the fuck.”

The tall male laughs his ass off.

Jonghyun massages his temple as he stares at the sudden additional of work papers. As far as he knows, these papers are… Minho’s responsibility. How come they end up on his desk?

“Mr. Choi is taking a day off today, Sir.” His secretary informs him when he asks her about his cousin’s where being.

A day off? Minho?

“Is he sick or what…” Jonghyun wonders while pushing the papers away to look for his phone.

The same boring tone of dialing resonates into his ear while he waits for his call to be answered.

_“Hello?”_ Minho’s voice comes ringing, healthy and happy, added with some crowded voice in the background.

“Hey, Minho. Where are you? Why are you taking a day off?”

_“Oh, hyung. Sorry that I forgot to tell you but I will be back tomorrow!”_

“What- Minho, why is there so noisy?” Jonghyun closes his eyes, trying to think about where Minho might be to be having such noisy surroundings.

_“I’m currently out and –”_

_“Minho, I got the tickets! Do you want popcorns? Oh, you are on the phone.”_

“Who’s that?” Jonghyun asks, hearing a distinct voice that sounds foreign but weirdly familiar.

_“Yeah, buttered popcorns! Thanks, Kibum!”_

_“Got it!”_

…what?

Jonghyun jolts up on his seat as he hears the familiar name. Is that the same Kibum or Minho might be hanging out with another Kibum? What is going on here?

“Minho –”

_ “Hyung, I need to go now! Talk to you later!” _

And Minho ends the call.

Jonghyun stares at his phone, trying to understand this but clearly he doesn’t have any more clues.

Where is Minho and who is that Kibum?

“Daddy!” Bomi squeals as she runs into the arms of her father. Jonghyun hugs her tight and he gives a thankful bow towards one of the teachers he doesn’t even give a shit (definitely not because they are not Bummie. No, no).

“Daddy, are you okay?” Bomi asks with pouty lips as she tenderly thumbs over his eyes. Jonghyun closes his eyes and smiles to his little sunshine.

“Of course. You are my battery, Bomi. Let’s go home now.”

After strapping the girl on the seat, he drives back home tiredly but he still keeps on listening to what his daughter is talking about.

“...and Teacher Bummie didn’t come today.”

Jonghyun feels his sleepiness goes away just by the mere mention of the name. Bomi is sulking because her favorite teacher was not there in the daycare.

“Uh, why wouldn’t he?”

“I don’t know. Something about day off. What is day off, Daddy?” Bomi asks, staring at him with two round eyes blinking curiously. Jonghyun pats her head.

“It’s when you don’t come to work with permission.”

“Oh. Then, when are you going to have a day off, Daddy? We can play all day!”

Jonghyun stills at the innocent question. He knows that Bomi misses him because recently he has never given her any fun time. He has been very busy and he feels so sorry for his daughter.

“I will try to have one soon. Can you wait, baby?”

“Okay!” Bomi graces him a beautiful smile with her eyes squeezed at the corner and little puppy teeth peeking out. Oh, he has such an adorable daughter! Jonghyun can’t be more proud of his genes!

They clean up and Bomi insists that she wants to sleep with him tonight, so Jonghyun has a snoring girl drapes over his chest. Bomi’s nose wriggles a few times as her pretty little lips flutter from the breathe she is taking.

Jonghyun runs his hand over her soft hair, wondering how could he hurt his little girl by not giving more time for her? He is such a bad father.

“I’m sorry, baby. Daddy will try to be there for you.”

Bomi smiles in her sleep.

Kibum gets down from Minho’s car as their friendly date ends around seven in the night.

“I had fun today. Thanks.” Kibum says, smiling up to the tall male.

Minho smiles back, shrugging. “The same goes to you.”

“Alright. Be careful on your way back home. Good night, Minho. Thanks for the ride.” Kibum waves his hand before he spins around to walk into his house.

The tall male stops him by gently gripping onto his wrist. Kibum stares back at him questioningly.

“Hey, Kibum. Would you like to do this again anytime soon?”

“Um, sure? Why not?”

Minho licks his lip nervously. “Not just like this. You know... Like... A real date?”

“Minho,”

“A real date... Not between friends?”

Kibum stares at him, surprised at the sudden proposal. “Choi Minho, you...”

“We did go out a few years back,” Minho says, “and it did not work, but... I would like to try again with you, Kibum. Would you like to try again with me?”

The only voice comes from Minho’s car engine which is still left on, while Kibum looks away from him.

“Uh, I don’t know, I mean... I don’t really think about having some kind of relationship as for now,”

Minho deflates.

“But,” Kibum continues, “we still could go out for friendly dates first... before we see where it would lead us to. Okay?”

Minho looks close to jump around and scream like a winning soccer player, but he holds it back in.

“Sure! Have a nice sleep, Kibum!”

As Kibum watches the car speeds away, he spins on his heels to enter the house. Jinki is waiting for details from him. The first words coming out of Kibum’s mouth are:

“Hyung, you were fucking right.”

Jonghyun spends his afternoon rearranging his schedule, in hope that he could sneak in some days off so he could spoil his little princess.

Works put aside as he finally sees the light of finding a day off next week and two days off on the other week. If he works faster, he might get three days.

Well, that’s what he plans, but he doesn’t expect to hear his phone rings with a call from unknown numbers.

“Yes. It’s Kim Jonghyun speaking.”

_“I-I’m sorry for calling you at time like this, Mr. Kim,”_ the voice from the other line stutters softly and Jonghyun closes his eyes at how melodic and soft Bummie’s voice is.

Wait- what, who?

“H-Hello?”

_“This is... Teacher Kim from Rainbow Daycare, Sir. I... I want to inform you that Bomi is sick.”_

Jonghyun feels panic rises in his head. Bomi is sick? His daughter is sick? His lovely, sunshine, princess?

“What? How, I mean, I will be there soon!” He exclaims before he ends the call.

Screw with work. His daughter comes first. Jonghyun runs out of his office and sprints right away to the parking ground for his car.

Kibum sighs as he stares at the phone after Mr. Kim had ended the line.

Bomi writhes in his lap, coughing softly. He cradles her close while standing up to enter the nursery room.

The girl had been all lovely and cheerful just like she usually is, but slowly she sneezed a few times before she coughed a lot too. The next thing Kibum knew was Bomi who ran up to him, saying that she was sleepy and tired. Kibum panicked when he felt her temperature, and that was how she ended up sleeping in his arms. She doesn’t even want to release her grip from his shirt.

Jinki takes over his class to let him take care of the sick girl. Kibum hugs her tightly while rearranging his jacket on her shoulder.

Sweet Bomi. You have to be healthy and brighten up the day again.

Kibum stares at the sleeping girl for a long time, before suddenly he hears urgent footsteps running in the hallway.

The door slams open and appears Mr. Kim, Bomi’s father.

“Bomi!!” Mr. Kim pants and Kibum is barely able to greet him before the man in suit crouches down to touch the girl’s face.

“What happened to her?”

Kibum tries looking away from the girl’s father by locking his eyes on the sleeping child’s face.

“We suspect that she might catch a cold. The weather is unpredictable these few weeks so maybe she gets a little under the weather. Kids tend to get sick more. She coughs and sneezes a lot and she has quite a fever.”

Mr. Kim looks kind of relieved that it’s nothing serious but he still has that worried expression on his face. Kibum tries not to stare at him for longer than five seconds or old memories will come out again.

“You should take her home or to the clinic, Sir.”

He lifts the girl up to hand her to her father, but Bomi whines from the sudden lost of warmth. She grips her fingers tight on Kibum’s, not wanting to be apart. Kibum stutters as the girl’s father tries getting closer to get a better hold of the child, but Bomi coughs and curls to his warmth.

“Uh,” Kibum mutters softly.

He sees Mr. Kim looks up to him and oh no, memories of the past come back in an instant just by staring into those brown eyes.

“She won’t let go. I have to get her to the clinic. How about... How about you come with us for a while?” The suited man offers and Kibum gulps the saliva down his throat. This is so not happening.

“I... I will try to get Bomi let go of me, Sir,” Kibum hastily says while slowly releasing the chubby little fingers off of his shirt one by one. She loosens her hold but the moment she is lifted away, she clamps down on him again.

“Please come with me. I mean, with us.” The father says.

Kibum falters and he glances at the other who is currently staring at him expectantly.

“I will... I will get permission.”

Then he stands up to look for Jinki.

“Hyung, can I leave for a while? We need to get Bomi to the clinic but she won’t let me go.” Kibum says and Jinki stares at the father of the child standing not far away from them. The man has this look that is close to glare and Jinki holds back a laugh.

“Sure. Bring your phone.” Jinki says, patting him on his head just to rile the other male up.

Kibum nods, letting Jinki helps him putting his phone into his pocket as his hands are full with the sleeping child. Then he walks towards the awaiting father and Kibum soon finds himself in the car of his ex-first love, the father of the child who is now sleeping against his chest.

“Where is the nearest clinic?” The man on the driver seat asks, pulling Kibum out of his reverie.

“Uh, two blocks from here.”

Kibum listens as the doctor lists the variety of food and drink Bomi is not supposed to have for a moment during her condition. No ice cream, no fried things, no sweets.

Bomi is soundly asleep against his chest; her temperature has climbed down for now after she got the shot. Kibum has his hand clutching onto the child when Bomi got the injection. It must be hurt even though it will help her get healthy sooner.

The father thanks the doctor and pays for the medications.

“I will drop you back.” Mr. Kim says.

Kibum nods silently at the offer as he keeps his gaze on the child. Bomi’s face has gotten its color back.

The both of them don’t really talk during the ride. Kibum has managed to untangle Bomi’s fingers off of him. As the car stops in front of the daycare, Kibum shifts the child back into the father’s arms.

Bomi whines shortly, before she goes back to sleep.

“I... Thank you for the ride, Mr. Kim. I hope Bomi gets healthy soon. Uh, I... I will be going then.”

“Thank you.” Mr. Kim says gently, stopping Kibum from opening the car door. He glances back from his shoulder and finds the suited man is smiling at him.

“Thank you for taking care of my daughter. I’m really grateful. I’m in debt with you.”

“No, no, no. This is my job, Sir! And besides, Bomi is a nice child.” Kibum says as he reaches forward to thumb the child on her flushed cheek.

“Thank you, Bummie. Really.”

The intensity in his stare is too much for Kibum. He can’t help but to drown in the color of that warm brown.

It might be a minute or five minutes or even fifteen minutes, but Kibum is jolted back to reality when a phone rings from somewhere.

Both males flinch and shift awkwardly before Kibum gives a polite bow to the man and rushes out of the car.

He runs back into the office, heart thudding so fast and blood rushing in his ears. Jinki is staring at him questioningly; as he slams the door closes and slides down against it.

“What’s wrong? Is Bomi okay?”

“Hyung,” Kibum calls breathlessly, his eyes wide open. “He remembers me. Oh my God.”

Jinki looks confused. “What?”

Kibum nods his head repeatedly. Again and again, as if to emphasize his words.

“He... He called me Bummie...” Kibum whispers, still unable to believe that his old nickname comes resurface at the time he doesn’t expect.

And mostly because it comes from the man he expects the least.

“Oh my God! Kim Jonghyun had just called me Bummie!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe, do you see this coming? Hoho, I'm supposed to be studying for my exam on Thursday but I'm writing this down. Don't you love me for this? :')
> 
> Do tell me what you think about this chapter! Comments are deeply appreciated and will make me very happy! Thanks for reading! ^^


	5. Chapter 5

_Are you up for another date?_

Kibum stares at the text message in his phone, unable to believe that Minho the frog has just sent him one. Minho is even more active than the time they were still going out during high school.

When they were still students, Kibum was one famous kid (well shit, it’s embarrassing for him to think about that) and Minho was popular because he was athletic and won lots of medals for the school with his sport skills. It was no wonder that Minho asked him out after school at the back garden. Kibum couldn’t refuse him though, he didn’t really know Minho but he did know that he was a good guy, so they tried it.

They went for dates as boyfriends lots of time. Kibum admits that he was kind of happy with Minho back then, but Minho was not the guy he was looking for.

But who knows now? Maybe he could end up with Minho?

“You should answer, you know.”

Kibum shrieks in surprise as Jinki’s voice rings beside his ear. He turns around and lands a slap over the older male’s head, ignoring Jinki’s whining voice.

“Should you really hit me?”

“You will get another hit if you keep this up.” Kibum huffs while crossing his arms in front of his chest. Jinki is grunting at the dull pain on his head, glaring at the younger male.

“You wouldn’t get someone if you keep this act, Kibum. Not many people could handle your physical abuse.”

“Shut up,” the younger male pouts.

“But, really. You should answer to his text, you know.” Jinki comes again, propping his chin on Kibum’s shoulder.

“Do you think… I should say yes?”

Jinki shrugs. “It’s up to you. Do you want to go on a date with him? Would you try with him?”

Kibum purses his lips. “I want to try but I’m not sure how this will end up.”

He yelps when Jinki pats his butt. “Then go try. You wouldn’t know before you try to do it, Kibum.”

“Okay.” The younger male nods his head, then goes to type a reply.

_Sure. When?_

_Great! How about on Friday evening? I could pick you up then we could go for a dinner together._

_Okay. ^^_

_See you, Kibum!_

He sighs, throwing an arm over his eyes. He hopes he is doing the right thing.

 

 

 

 

 

“Teacher Bummie!” Bomi’s high pitched voice calls for him and Kibum smiles widely. In just a mere of second, his arms are full with an armful of the little girl.

“Oh, our little Bomi!” He fakes a huff when she slams right into his embrace.

Bomi giggles, her chubby cheeks going up, and Kibum can’t help but to pinch them.

“Let’s go read! Read! Read!” Bomi shakes his arms, skipping on her feet.

Kibum lifts her up into his embrace and he begins to walk towards the reading room.

Ever since Bomi has gotten healthy again, she has been very energetic and noisy. Not that she is annoying, no she could never be annoying, but she is just too cheerful. She tells him about how bad it was for her to stay in bed for a long time because her daddy wouldn’t let her go anywhere. 

When she finally got back, the first thing she did was to hug Kibum tightly and told him how much she missed him. She also told him that she dreamt of them went to the clinic like a small happy family and that left Kibum blushing like a mad man.

“Now, choose your book.” Kibum puts the girl down and Bomi rushes towards the shelf. She hums while tapping her finger to her chin, before she points onto a certain book with her chubby finger.

“That! That!” She skips on her feet, her cute pink skirt bouncing lightly.

Kibum pinches himself to hold back a squeal because she is so freaking cute.

“Alright. Now let’s start.” He says after taking the book and then opening it. Bomi scrambles to settle in his lap with her back against his stomach. She grabs onto his arm to wrap around her warmly before she gazes up into his eyes, smiling like the cute little kid she is.

“Hehe. Teacher Bummie is warm.” She squeals.

Kibum stares at her for a moment before he chuckles. “Sure.”

 

 

 

 

 

“Daddy!” Bomi squeals when the familiar car parks in front of the daycare gate.

Kibum heaves a deep breath to calm himself down. Ever since Bomi got sick, both the daughter and the father have been acting very weird. Not the bad weird, but just… weird.

Bomi’s father has been the one fetching the girl up everyday. That’s not good, no, no. It doesn’t do well to Kibum’s heart. Since Kim Jonghyun called him Bummie at that last time, they have never had a conversation about it. Their talk hangs around: how are you, thank you for taking care of her, yes it’s fine, you’re welcome, have a safe drive, goodbye, sir.

That’s it.

And it takes Kibum’s curiosity about why Bomi’s father keeps fetching her instead of Minho. Not that he wants Minho to come, eh that sounds wrong, not that he doesn’t want Minho to come, but it’s just weirdly weird to see the father being so active in fetching his daughter when he is usually being too busy.

“Good evening, Teacher Kim.” Bomi’s father greets with that lopsided smile of his that makes Kibum swoons internally.

“H-Hello, Mr. Kim. Good evening.”

Bomi is hugging her father’s leg while watching their interaction with a wide grin hanging on her lips.

“How was… Bomi today?” The father asks again, glancing away shyly.

Kibum chews on his bottom lip. “She was well behaved, just like usual… sir.” He whispers softly, unable to look at the single father.

Both males are talking without looking at each other. Silly, no?

Bomi stifles a smile.

“W-We better go back now. You, too, don’t go too late, Teacher Kim.”

“Y-Yes. Please take care, sir.” Kibum bows politely.

Bomi giggles. “Good night, Teacher Bummie! I will dream of you again and see you tomorrow!”

Kibum smiles and waves at the little girl. “Bye, Bomi-yah.”

The father bows to him before he scoops the child up into the car. Kibum watches them drive away before he spins around to go back inside.

Oh, his heart.

 

 

 

 

 

And again. And again. And again.

The father comes to fetch the girl up and they share a shy talk for each passing day. It’s good that Bomi doesn’t mention whatever tension in between them so they could avoid the embarrassment.

The conversation is still around there. Asking about how are you, Bomi’s behavior, or about weather, and please take care on your way home.

Kibum thinks he might need a doctor because it’s unhealthy. With the way the single father is giving him a charming smile on each day, Kibum is bound to get a heart attack soon. He can’t help that every night, he falls asleep to the image of that smile again and again. When morning comes, he is left gaping in horror because his dream is filled with a certain senior named Kim Jonghyun and a single father named Kim Jonghyun.

Bad. This is bad. Bad Kibummie!

“Kibum, you are spacing out.” Jinki mentions, dropping a slight hit on his head with a thin book.

Kibum flinches in surprise and he glares at the older male.

“That hurts.”

“Please. That was just a mere touch.” Jinki rolls his eyes. “Anyway, what are you spacing out about?”

He sighs. “You know what.”

“Or do you mean… you know _who_.”

Kibum grunts. “Hyung, what should I do?”

“Of what?”

“Of… having this weird thought!”

Jinki sends him an amused stare. “Are you thinking of doing the nasty with him?”

“What the hell? NO!!” Kibum shrieks. Jinki laughs loudly at him.

“Then what do you mean with what should you do? I don’t see anything wrong here.”

“Hyung. He comes everyday.” Kibum deadpans.

“To get his daughter, yes.” Jinki nods.

“Hyung. He smiles to me everyday.”

“That’s a polite way to greet everyone, even to stranger.”

“And he talks to me everyday.”

“As long as he is a normal human, then he will talk, yes.”

Kibum rubs his face. “Damn it!!”

Jinki chuckles. “Seriously, what’s your problem? I thought you are with that Minho kid?”

“Hyung, Kim Jonghyun remembered me and called me Bummie and he comes everyday and talks to me and smiles to me. I can’t- my heart… can’t take it.” He murmurs, slumping down on the couch.

Jinki snorts. “Oh. You are so deep.”

“Hyuuuuuunnngg! You are not helping at all!”

“What’s so wrong about that? People are bound to fall for two different guys!”

Kibum huffs. “What do you mean with that?”

Jinki stares at him into his eyes. “Kim Jonghyun. And Choi Minho.” He then ruffles Kibum’s hair roughly, getting his hand swatted away by a furious kitten.

“I do not fall for Minho …yet.” 

“You sure? But you go on dates with him.”

“We just- oh fuck, the dinner date is tomorrow! I haven’t picked up an outfit yet!” Kibum scrambles out of the couch to rush into his room.

 

 

 

 

 

“Goodbye, Teacher Bummie!” The children wave at him and Kibum waves back.

“Bye! Take care!”

One by one of the children walk out of the classroom to their parents, until he is left with Bomi along again. Kibum quickly tidies his desk and things, stealing a glance to the clock on each passing minute to make sure that Minho hasn’t arrived yet. 

“Teacher Bummie, can you help me with this please?” Bomi asks, holding up a candy in her fingers. Kibum grabs onto it then he gets onto his knees, before ripping the candy open to feed the girl.

“Good girl. Eat slowly, okay? I don’t want you to choke on it.”

Bomi nods and smiles at him.

Kibum stands up and walks towards Jinki who is lifting the chairs up on the other side of the classroom. “Hyung, can you close up today?”

Jinki gives him a thumb up. “Don’t worry. Go have fun.” He winks at him. Kibum rolls his eyes. “The stew is on the stove so you just have to warm it up again.”

“Yes, yes. I could just order pizza as well, Kibum. Just shut up.” Jinki teases him.

Honk.

A car stops and Bomi grabs her backpack before she rushes to run out. Kibum takes a deep breath before he follows after the girl.

“Hello again, Teacher Kim.” The single father greets with a smile. Kibum’s heartbeats stutter.

“G-Good evening, Mr. Kim.”

Damn it. He is too charming. Kibum could melt under his burning stare.

The single father opens his mouth to talk but another car stops just behind his and everyone glances to it. Out from the driver seat is Minho with a wide smile on his lips. Kibum heaves another breath.

“Minho?” The single father calls.

“Uncle?” Bomi tilts her head.

“Hey, frog.” Kibum greets, before he rushes inside to grab his bag and then runs out again.

“Hey, hyung and Bomi. And you too, Princess.” Minho greets, doing a salute.

Kibum snorts. “Stop that already.” He walks closer towards him, unaware of the heated gaze coming from the single father.

“Oh.” Kibum spins around, “Please take care on your way home, sir and Bomi. Good night.” He smiles to them before Minho waves to his cousin and the little girl. They walk towards his car and Kibum sends the tall male a smile as he opens the door for him.

Minho then gets into the driver side and it takes no longer than a minute before they drive away.

 

 

 

Jinki watches the whole commotion from the inside. Both the father and the daughter are still glaring at the two, even up until the car is driving away from them. The single father is fuming and the little girl is pouting.

He chuckles, holding his chin up with his knuckles.

“Oh. This is going to be very interesting.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fortunately I feel better after being sick so I could finish this chapter! ^^~ How do you think will happen next? Hehe
> 
> Do tell me what you think about this chapter! Comments are deeply appreciated and will make me very happy! Thanks for reading! ^^


	6. Chapter 6

It’s the promised day off he has for Bomi. Jonghyun wakes up feeling refreshed than ever (because he doesn’t have to do any work) and he takes a bath with a warm shower. It’s Saturday and Bomi has no school and after he decides to let his little angel sleeps for a little more, he goes down to the kitchen to look into the fridge. Hmm, not much left.

Jonghyun yawns as he grabs onto some eggs and bacons. These will do.

As the bacons sizzle in the pan, Jonghyun goes to put the bread in the toaster and brews up coffee for himself. The perfectly cooked bacons are accompanied by sunny side eggs in the plate and he feels kind of proud with himself. It’s going to be a good day.

Now it’s time to wake the sleeping beauty.

Bomi is still curled under her pink blanket when he gets into her room. Jonghyun holds a hand over his chest, sighing in delight. Such a cute girl. How come he has such good genes?

He crawls into her bed and caresses her head. 

“Sweetie, it’s time to wake up.”

Bomi stirs, her lips twitch yet she is still not waking up. Jonghyun smiles at her before he grabs her up and the girl cuddles to his warmth.

“Won’t you wake up, Bomi-yah?”

She whimpers while fisting onto his shirt. Jonghyun grits his teeth because damn it, he has such an adorable daughter!

“Daddy,” Bomi calls softly, lifting her head up to stare at him. Jonghyun greets her with a wide smile. “Hmm?”

“What are we going to do today?”

“How about we go shopping today?”

Bomi’s eyes snap open and she grips onto the front of his shirt. “Really, daddy? Really?”

“Yes, baby. Really!” Jonghyun cheers up and Bomi climbs away from his lap to jump around on her bed. The father keeps a protective arm to surround her to prevent her from getting hurt.

“Yay! Yayy!!”

After so much difficulty (because Bomi won’t stop telling him about anything she wants him to buy for her), he bathes her and they eat the cold breakfast he had prepared earlier. Despite it being cold and the bacons are no longer crispy, Bomi keeps telling him that it’s delicious as if she wants to make him feel better. Jonghyun gives her a smooch on her cheek.

They go by the car and Bomi fidgets around on the seat. She sings along to the music from the radio, despite it being off pitched but Jonghyun laughs happily. They start their day with doing grocery shopping.

With Bomi seated excitedly in the shopping cart, Jonghyun pushes it and they stroll around the supermarket. They will need lots of things because the fridge is almost empty, Bomi’s favorite colorful cereal is running out, and Jonghyun needs more of energy drinks. 

“Daddy, I want that candy! Oh, the snack! That! That!”

Jonghyun laughs. “Why don’t you get down from here and get everything by yourself?”

Bomi nods and he helps her down from the cart. She runs away to the shelves to get whatever that catches her eyes and Jonghyun follows after her while grabbing onto the important things they need in the kitchen.

After grabbing so many things that they don’t even fit in her arms, Bomi walks back to where her father is standing and comparing in between two bags of rice. She stumbles over her foot and bumps onto someone’s legs, making all the snacks to drop down onto the floor.

“I’m sorry!” Bomi squeaks in apology because daddy said to always say sorry when you make a mistake. She pouts and looks up to the person she bumped onto and she gasps right away.

“Teacher Bummie!” She shrieks in pure happiness, forgetting the snacks on her feet and focusing her gaze onto her favorite teacher, who is now crouching down to scoop all her snacks up.

“Bomi? Such a surprise to see you here!” Kibum exclaims with a wide smile and he opens his arms widely when the girl makes her way to hug him. Bomi lets out a sound resembles a purr when she shoves her face into his chest.

“I miss you.” She mutters softly, making Kibum laughs. “But we just met yesterday?”

“There is no school today so I miss you! I miss you whenever I don’t see you!” Bomi insists, curling her arms around his neck. Kibum scoops her up onto her crouching leg before he collects her fallen snacks one by one. 

“Bomi?”

Kibum lifts his head up when he hears the familiar voice. Oh no—

“Daddy!” The girl shrieks and motions for the teacher to get closer to the single father. Kibum grows shy by the sudden appearance. From all places, should they really meet here?

“T-Teacher Kim.” The single father greets in surprise, smiling awkwardly. Kibum gives him a polite bow, in difficulty with the girl clinging on him. Bomi keeps a tight grip on him and doesn’t even loosen it.

“It’s nice to see you here. Are you doing grocery shopping?” Jonghyun asks. 

“Ah, yes. Monthly shopping. I can see that you are doing the same, Mr. Kim.” Kibum says softly. He puts the snacks Bomi was holding before into the cart the single father is pushing on.

“Bomi, come here.” Jonghyun calls, gesturing for his daughter to come to him. Bomi whines and shakes her head. “No, I want Teacher Bummie!”

Kibum is torn in between the girl and her father. Bomi keeps her hold tight on him and he has no choice other than holding onto her to not drop her. Jonghyun looks like he is having a difficulty in talking.

“I’m sorry about her. She is not usually this clingy.” The father apologizes and Kibum shakes his head. “No, it’s okay. Maybe she is just happy that she has time with you, Mr. Kim.”

Jonghyun ponders, seeing that his daughter wouldn’t let the teacher go anytime soon. “Actually, Teacher Kim, how about you come with us? Do you have any plan after this?”

“No, um, but I can’t possibly interrupt your family! I just –”

“Come with us! Please!” Bomi begs in his ear and Kibum finds two identical pairs of puppy eyes are staring hopefully at him.

“O-Okay.” He finds himself agreeing to them and Bomi cheers happily. The single father grabs onto his shopping basket and puts it into his shopping cart. It’s like an unwritten rule that the father goes to shop for things while Kibum is taking care the kid in his arms.

“We can get to the clothing store! I want you to help me in choosing new clothes for me, Teacher Bummie!”

“Alright,” Kibum decides to just follow the way. It’s not like he can do anything about it; Bomi wouldn’t even want to release her hold from him.

After the grocery shopping (with Kibum’s things are being paid by the single father as well), they head towards the clothing shop selling children’s clothes. Bomi insists that Kibum holds onto her the whole time and even asks for him to choose her clothes for her. Jonghyun stays back, watching them and playing with some frilly skirts for little girls.

“Daddy! Is this good? Am I pretty?” Bomi asks excitedly when she tries the pink tutu skirt she wants the most. The single father gives her two thumbs up.

“The prettiest.” He comments, making the little girl giggles in delight. 

Kibum holds her up again in his arms as the father pays for the clothes the girl wants. Bomi insists that her father should buy some clothes too and they follow for her demand. But when it’s time to choose, she reasons that she doesn’t understand men’s style and forces the dumbfounded teacher to help her father.

“What kind of tie do you prefer, Mr. Kim?” Kibum asks shyly, fiddling with his fingers.

Jonghyun rubs the back of his neck. “The type that doesn’t steal attention.”

Kibum nods and goes to pick some. He lifts a few ties to compare them and even puts them to the single father’s chest to imagine it going with his formal dress shirt.

Bomi covers her laugh for most of the time. 

 

 

 

 

 

After the clothes shopping (even Kibum gets some because Bomi insists that the teacher should get some and her father should choose some for him to thank him), Bomi says that she is hungry and Kibum, wondering when he will be let go, follows after the father and daughter to the nearest fast food restaurant.

Bomi asks for chicken nuggets and fries and ice cream. Kibum sticks with salads and the single father chooses for burger. 

“Daddy, say ah!” Bomi stands on her seat, offering a fry to the father. Jonghyun smiles and opens his mouth, mimicking an excited kid when the fry makes its way into his mouth. Bomi giggles before she grabs another one and offers it to the teacher.

“Teacher Bummie, ah!”

Kibum shyly opens his mouth and gets a wide happy grin from the girl. Bomi slips into his lap and they eat together like one happy family.

Wait- what?

Kibum almost chokes on his food at the thought of that. How dare he imagine them being a family? He is no one but an outsider who Bomi has taken a liking of. Until when will she likes him? He doesn’t know and when the time comes, he will have to be ready to let her go.

“Teacher Bummie? Let’s go?” Bomi tugs onto his shirt when he goes silent for most of the time during their meal. 

“O-Oh, yes.” He stutters, lifting the girl down to her feet. Bomi grabs onto his hand while she takes her father’s hand with her other one, holding onto each adult on her sides.

If not a family picture, then what?

“Let me take you home, Teacher Kim.” The single father offers and Kibum shakes his head. “Oh, no, no! It’s okay! You have done so much for me today!”

“Please let me do it. You have to spend your day with us today so let me do this to pay you back.” Jonghyun says, his tone almost begging.

“But,” Kibum stops when Bomi gives him a pout. “Please?” She whispers softly, giving a face that looks like she can cry anytime soon.

He sighs and nods. The single father slips into the driver seat and Bomi tells him to stay in the passenger seat while the girl slips to the backseat.

The first few minutes they talk lightly, but then Bomi becomes tired and her head lolls to the side as she falls asleep. Jonghyun stares at her through the mirror and he smiles.

“I want to apologize for Bomi’s behavior today. She is not usually this clingy and I don’t know what happened to her. She is really excited and happy so I have to thank you as well.”

Kibum nods, fisting his own hand. “She is just happy that she can spend time with you, Mr. Kim. Sometimes she told me about you being too busy.”

Jonghyun hums guiltily. “I feel very sorry that I can’t be there for her, but I’m also thankful that you can fill that spot for her.”

“Oh, no! I’m not doing anything, Mr. Kim!”

“Please drop the formality. I guess we can be a bit friendlier after spending a day together?” Jonghyun laughs to ease the awkwardness, before he clears his throat, “You can call me Jonghyun. It’s okay.”

“Uh, o-okay.” Kibum murmurs, bending his head down.

He tells the address to his place and the single father drives him there. The rest of the journey is spent calmly with small talks. Bomi is already in a deep sleep by the time they arrive at Kibum’s place.

“So, this is where I live.” Kibum fiddles with his fingers. Jonghyun looks at the house.

“Once again, thank you so much for spending your time with us today. Bomi really loves you.” He says to the teacher.

“I’m glad… to know that.”

Kibum glances up and finds out that the single father is staring at him intently, making him feeling so shy and everything. He glances away and chews down on his lip, feeling so nervous and bothered by the fact that he can’t even look at the male in his eyes.

“Thank you, Kibum.” The single father says softly, reaching to tap onto his hand. Kibum jolts up in surprise and he nods his head.

“I-I have to go, um, thank you for the r-ride!” He chokes out, scrambling to open the door.

Kibum climbs out of the car and makes a move to close the door, yet he stops and sticks his head inside to say, “Thank you. Jonghyun.”  


He closes the door and runs into his house, feeling his face so warm and he can’t even imagine how red his cheeks must be.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bomi, the sly little puppy :3 Hehe~ Do tell me what you think about this chapter! Comments are deeply appreciated and will make me very happy! Thanks for reading! ^^
> 
> I don't know when the next update would be because I have to work on my thesis (T^T)/


	7. Chapter 7

Warning: Talk about sex.

“Hey, Kibum. You look gorgeous today as well.” Minho greets with a smile, a flirty tone in his voice. Kibum snorts, rolling his eyes at him.

“Enough with the sweet talk, Mr. Choi. What’s your plan for today?”

Minho gives him a side hug, swift and quick, before holding a hand on the small of his back to guide him into his car. Kibum thanks him and straps himself with the seat belt while waiting for the taller male to get into the driver seat. As soon as Minho settles in, he graces Kibum with a smile.

“What do you say about a street walk date? I heard there is this street festival and my colleagues said it’s going to be fun.”

“Yeah, sure. Don’t disappoint me.” Kibum says with a smirk, in which Minho responds with a laugh and he reaches aside to ruffle him on his head. Kibum shoves his hand way, making a face at him.

“Don’t touch my hair. It was hard to make it stay like this.”

Minho nods, lifting both hands up in defeat. “Alright, alright. Hands off now.”

He starts the car engine and soon, he drives them to the busy street. Kibum is staring out of the window for the whole time, counting that it’s their fifth date in the whole two months. He has to admit that Minho is never one to give up so easily and that’s why they could stay until the fifth date.

Don’t get him wrong, Kibum enjoys the time he spends with Minho. But truth to be told, he is not really looking forward to the end of the date. Everytime their date is over, Minho has always given him a look of question and some kind of hope. They don’t label their relationship, still playing safe around the title of ‘friends’ but Kibum knows that look Minho always gives him once in a while.

Minho is charming, that’s his character. Everyone will pay for a date with him, choosing to win his heart and bragging his handsome look to the public. Weirdly enough, Kibum doesn’t feel the same want. 

He just wants to spend the time with Minho, trying to decide whether all the dates they have gone to will at least help him in decipher his feeling. 

 

 

 

 

“Wow.” He breathes out excitedly when they arrive at the street festival. The street is crowded with people, walking and shopping. It’s exactly his type of date.

“Come on!” Minho says, curling an arm around his shoulder to maintain their close intimacy. Kibum holds himself back from flinching at the touch and he ignores the heavy feeling of Minho’s arm around him, as if declaring possession.

There are various street food and vendors selling accessories and everything that will grab people’s attention to stop and buy. Minho insists that they stop in some vendors, offering some things to Kibum and even saying that he will buy it for him but Kibum doesn’t want that. He doesn’t know why, but he doesn’t want to have to own Minho with anything.

In his head, he is already half sure with his decision on what kind of move he has to make for this relationship. He just needs one more thing to make him decide for real.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Minho asks, voice raised and mouth pressed against his ear to talk since the crowded street is too loud with so many voices and noises.

Kibum flinches away, startled at the close gap between them. He chooses to nod to answer to Minho’s question and the taller male smiles triumphantly, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze to let him know that he is glad to know that.

They stop to buy some street food and Minho keeps giving him so many that Kibum wonders whether the taller male is planning to make him fat. He knows that Minho is just trying to show that he has his full attention on him and that he cares for him.

 Minho puts his arm around his waist, his fingers splaying on his hip. Kibum steals a side glance to the taller male and Minho doesn’t seem to realize his half glare as he keeps staring at the vendors selling their things. Kibum is not one to deny skin ship, yes, but he is not sure whether he is ready with this.

Minho seems like he enjoys skin ship as much as he himself does and doesn’t seem to be one to shy away from the chance to show it. Deciding to not mention it, Kibum pushes away the idea of showing Minho’s arm away from him and just walks along this date. They are halfway through the day anyway.

The car is parked on the parking lot, quite far from where they have reached by now. They settle down on the bench, eating their hotdogs and sipping onto the green tea. Minho starts some playful and friendly conversation topics and Kibum answers him on each one, sometimes even laughing at the jokes the taller male throws in between his serious words.

They spend time together and Kibum has to admit that Minho is a very decent man. He is loaded, he has such a handsome face, he is kind and friendly, he is not awkward, and he can charm his way to everyone he wants to.

Someone who will end up with Minho will be very lucky. Kibum doesn’t sure whether that someone will be him.

As soon as their hotdogs are done and the paper cups are crumpled in their hand, Kibum feels a sudden drop of water on the top of his head. He looks up and just at the right time, the rain starts to shower the street wet. Everyone is running away to find a place to shield from the rain.

Minho grabs his arm, urging him to rise up from the bench and together, they run away towards the only place which only has little people taking shield at.

It’s a hotel.

Kibum wipes his drenched face and blinks the rain away from his eyes. He doesn’t really pay any attention to Minho but when he finally does, Minho is staring blatantly at him.

“What?” He asks out, breaking the taller male’s intense gaze.

Minho blinks and glances away, trying to feign innocence but it’s too late because Kibum has seen that he is giving his body a once over. It’s not the age for them to play innocent, you know. He knows when people are staring at his booty. Kibum is proud of hi booty, excuse you.

“We are drenched wet.” Minho starts slowly, his voice is heard despite the noise of such heavy rain hitting the rough ground. Kibum realizes how close they are to each other by now. Minho’s eyes flick down to him again, before gazing to the opening of the hotel.

“And the car is parked far from here. Let’s get inside to warm up.” He suggests.

Kibum gapes. “But they won’t allow us inside if we are not their guests.”

“Then let’s rent a room.” Minho says lowly, grabbing his wrist and dragging him inside. Kibum’s mouth hangs open as Minho slams his credit card down on the counter and the person behind it registers his name as the guest and hands him the key card.

Minho drags him up and Kibum is too shocked to even react to what he is currently doing. He should have seen this coming. Minho’s glances are too obvious, his touches are too obvious. Everything seems too obvious.

When they arrive at the assigned room, Minho quickly unlocks it and drags him inside. Kibum feels the surface of the closed door behind his back and suddenly, Minho is too close into his personal space.

The look in Minho’s eyes is too strong and it’s clouded with something else that Kibum recognizes as lust and want.

Without saying anything else, Minho dips down, head tilted and lips pressed against his. Kibum splutters in surprise, his hands flailing to make some gestures but in the end, he finds his eyes closing down and his fingers pulling the taller male closer.

And kiss they do.

Drenched clothes dropping down to the floor and limbs tangled in the bed. What’s going to happen next?

 

***

 

“Hyung?” Kibum whispers into the phone, ruffling his wet hair with his other hand.

Jinki’s voice is heard from the other line. “Why didn’t you answer my call earlier? Where are you?”

Kibum sniffs, rubbing his nose. “I was… busy. What’s wrong?”

“No, I was just worried. The rain was too heavy earlier and I was worried that you got caught in the middle of it.”

Kibum hums. “Yeah, it was too sudden. Of course I got caught in it.”

“So, where are you? When will you get back home?”

He runs his hand up, through his still wet hair after the quick shower. “I’m not sure. Maybe soon, in around an hour?”

Jinki hums. “Okay, have fun!”

Kibum ends the call just at the same time Minho walks out of the hotel bathroom, clad in nothing but the red wine colored robe. He sends him a smile and Kibum nods in acknowledgement.

“Are we okay?” Minho asks, coming closer to where he is sitting on the bed and joining him by his side. Kibum sends him a lopsided smile, “Yeah, we are okay. Don’t worry. And I’m sorry about earlier.”

Minho snorts jokingly, reaching over to ruffle his wet locks. Kibum bends his head down to avoid him from messing with his hair even further.

“Don’t apologize! Not every relationship can go as we wish!” Minho laughs softly. Kibum glances up at him. “I didn’t mean to play with your feeling.”

The taller male laughs even louder. “Why are you acting as if this is your first time dating? Seriously, Kibum. We had gone through this once.”

“But I feel so bad.”

“Whatever,” Minho rolls his eyes jokingly, before he pats Kibum on his head. “You didn’t want it and I couldn’t force you. This is your choice, Kibum, and I will respect that. Why can’t you get that in your thick head?”

Kibum puffs his cheeks. “Okay, but once again I’m sorry.”

Minho waves it away. “Oh, by the way,”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have someone you like right now?”

“What?” Kibum snaps his head, staring at the other. Minho gives him a teasing smirk. “You do, don’t you?”

“Uh, I- I don’t!”

“You can’t lie to me, Kibum. You wouldn’t be able to resist such perfection as I am if not for you already liking someone else and are completely head over heels with them.”

Kibum rolls his eyes. “You are a narcissist. And no, you are not perfect. Nobody’s perfect, you frog.”

Minho smacks his lips. “Whoever it is that you like—”

“I didn’t say I like someone—”

“I hope you can find the courage to confess soon, you know.”

Kibum shuts his mouth as he stares into Minho’s eyes. “Why are you telling me this?”

Minho smirks. “So you won’t regret it. People always find themselves regretting the things they didn’t do. I don’t want you to be one of them, Kibum. You should get your nice ending romance story.”

Kibum is silent for a while, but then Minho’s smirk grows wider. “Also… so that you won’t leave another man with blue balls again.”

With a groan, Kibum lands a strong hit over the taller male’s head.

 Well, Kibum makes a decision already.

 

***

 

“Hyung, you were fucking right about your premonition.” Kibum grunts as soon as the door opens for him. He slumps down into the couch, sighing heavily.

Jinki closes the door while watching the younger male with curious eyes. “Which premonition?”

“The one that you said that he would bring me to a hotel.”

Jinki’s eyes double open. “He—what?!”

“Yeah.”

“H-He… took you to a hotel and…?” Jinki gasps, running his eyes up and down and staring at his freshly bathed state. A wrecked sob leaves his mouth, alerting Kibum. Jinki is this close to tears.

“Why are you crying?!” Kibum deadpans.

Jinki sobs. “I couldn’t keep my promise to your mom—what kind of brother I am? Huwaaaa!!!” He cries.

Kibum makes a face at him. “I didn’t sleep with him. Shut up.” He says, giving a shocked Jinki a teasing smirk.

“You didn’t…?”

“I didn’t.” Kibum rises up from the couch, walking over to the door. Jinki runs after him, “Where are you going now?”

Kibum throws a glance through his shoulder. “To get some ramyeon. I’m craving for it.” He grabs his coat and walks out of the house.

Actually, he needs some time to think. Sure, he decides that he won’t play with Minho’s feeling anymore and that he thinks they fit the most to be friends. There is no problem there, Minho doesn’t have any hard feeling towards him.

The actual problem is… Minho’s words from earlier.

Find the courage to confess. To avoid regret and disappointment. 

Should he really? But he is not even sure about his own feeling? It was just a mere high school crush though and it’s destiny that they manage to meet again for one more time. He doesn’t even know whether his feeling will be reciprocated. If not, well, he might stay single for the rest of his life.

Kibum sighs, pushing the glass door of the convenience store open and heading straight to the ramyeon shelves. Screw with cooking, he doesn’t have the urge to do it today. Jinki could settle with instant noodles, he won’t die from it anyway.

He glances at the chocolate packages and suddenly he remembers Bomi.

Bomi, huh? Talk about her, he remembers her father and shit, problems just get worse. How is he supposed to admit that he was crushing on her father and might or might not have been crushing again for the same person?

“Kibum?”

At the call of his name, he breaks his trance away from the chocolate, glancing to the one calling for him. His heart skips a beat and Kibum finds himself curling a shy smile.

Speak of the devil.

“H-Hi, Jonghyun.” The voice is soft or maybe it’s loud, he doesn’t know anymore, since his own heart is beating way too fast to his liking, deafening his ears temporarily.

When Jonghyun smiles at him, Kibum thinks that maybe he should consider Minho’s words from earlier.

Yeah, he could do that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are some hints there... Can you catch that and list them to me? Eheheh, thanks for reading! ^^


	8. Chapter 8

The both of them sit on the bench just outside of the convenience store, wrapped in an awkward silence. Kibum fiddles with the hem of his sleeve, wondering whether he should start a conversation with his long time crush or keep being an idiot like this.

Well, he decides that he should stop being an idiot, anyway.

“So,” he speaks out softly into the silent yet cold night, noticing the flinch from the other male who doesn’t seem to expect him to talk at all, “what are you doing at time like this here?” He asks.

“I just got back from my office.” Jonghyun answers softly, eyes glancing anywhere but him. Kibum hums, “Where is Bomi?”

“She is with her grandparents.” He answers again and Kibum nods his head.

Again, silence blankets them. Uh.

“What about you? What are you doing here this late?” Jonghyun finally lifts his gaze up, staring straight into his eyes and Kibum feels like drowning in the warmness of them.

“I… want some ramyeon, so uh, yeah.” He shrugs, trying to act as if he is not clearly affected by the heavy gaze Jonghyun has on him. When he hears Jonghyun’s soft chuckle pierces the silent night, Kibum finds himself smiling and joining the male until they break into a soft laugh; completely destroying the ice wall between them.

This time, the silence is not awkward. It’s more like calming, as the both of them ponder over things in their head.

Kibum doesn’t expect to see the single father being so brave to start another topic, yet he finds himself to be more surprised at the sudden topic, which is clearly the sensitive spot between the two of them.

“Look, Kibum,” he says, gulping a bit and Kibum tries telling himself to not be distracted at how much he wants to touch that bobbing Adam’s apple. “We were in the same high school years back, right?”

Surprised, Kibum can only nod his head. Then, he sees a smile, a shy one, curls on the corner of the single father’s plump lips.

“You were very famous at that time.” Jonghyun mentions softly, with a hint of fondness in his tone.

Kibum flushes in embarrassment, “Y-Yeah… kinda.” Yes, he can’t deny it, because he was once very famous between the students in their high school. Everyone used to talk about him all the time.

“You know,” Jonghyun continues softly, “I used to like you during high school.”

The sudden admittance of feeling shocks Kibum to the max. His head snaps to the side, wide eyes staring at the red faced single father who doesn’t seem to be that brave to lift his head up. Kibum feels his jaws hanging open.

Jonghyun used to like him?

“You… you did?” He whispers questioningly, unable to wrap his head around the shocking fact. At the shy but firm nod from Jonghyun, Kibum feels his chest warms up and his heart seems to be doing some jumpy fluttery movements. This is too good to be true. He still can’t believe Jonghyun had a crush on him who also used to be crushing him back.

“I…” Kibum starts, his lips tingling at the words paused on the tip of his tongue, “I used to… like you too.” He decides to let the cat out of the bag. There is no more reason to hide it anymore.

Jonghyun’s head snaps up, not so different from his own a while ago. Kibum can notice him being so shocked about finding this out. Their eyes meet at that instance and red fills their entire face in that second. They are adults yet they act like this is their first puppy love.

After staring for quite a while, Jonghyun seems to regain himself back.

“I still do.” The single father mutters softly.

That makes Kibum goes beyond shock. He almost thinks he is dreaming, but one look at the seriousness at Jonghyun’s face assures him that this is not a dream at all.

“Me too.” Kibum says softly, voice no louder than a whisper. He gives the other a shy smile, one which is replied with one from Jonghyun which speaks tons of affection.

This is such an amazing night to Kibum.

 

 

 Surprisingly, Jonghyun slowly reaches for his hand, holding it gently in his own. Kibum gazes down at the different size between them, gaping at how perfect their hands look holding one another.

“Can we try, Kibum?” Jonghyun asks, holding his gaze to steadily that Kibum finds himself being so overwhelmed. He stares for quite a long time and Jonghyun waits for his response so patiently.

“Is it going to be… okay?” Kibum says, gulping. He doesn’t want to reject this only chance offered in front of his very own eyes. There is no way he can handle the heartbreak, moreover after knowing that his crush was crushing on him too. He would be very insane to reject him; or to even let their hands go.

The single father shrugs his shoulder, feigning ignorance but Kibum can feel the tremble from their hands. It makes him feels calmer, knowing that he is not the only one being so nervous here.

“We wouldn’t know before we try it.” Jonghyun mutters softly, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. 

That’s right, Kibum knows he is right. The preciseness in his answer makes Kibum blushes like a high school boy meeting his puppy love in the school bus. Oh such the irony.

“What do you say?” The single father asks to confirm his response. Kibum can hear the fear in the other’s tone and without wasting another second that would deter his decision anymore, he hears himself saying, “Let’s try then.”

He lifts his head up to give Jonghyun a smile, a bit shaky but that’s okay. They are trying to be together.

Jonghyun gives him a smile opposite from his; one that is so wide and shining so brightly even in this dark night and under the dim lamp from the convenience store. He feels a thumb rubbing onto his knuckles gently and Kibum brings his gaze back down to stare at their hands holding onto one another.

That’s such a beautiful sight to see.

“Let me drive you home.” Jonghyun pats his hand, before letting it go. Kibum almost whines from the loss of touch but then the single father is already holding the car door open. Kibum doesn’t even realize that the car is parked just right beside the bench. Feeling so shy and silly, Kibum gently slips into the car.

Jonghyun joins him by the driver seat, giving him a smile that is worth thousands of lifetimes, before driving him back home this night.

 

 

 

 

On the next morning, Jonghyun specially drives his daughter to the school, a bright smile decorating his face. If his daughter notices his strange act, she doesn’t mention about it.

He even specially “delivers” his daughter up to her classroom, wanting to see the pretty teacher who is Bomi’s forever favorite. When his eyes fall onto the sight of Kibum greeting the other kids, Jonghyun’s face lights up and he tells his daughter to call for the teacher.

“Teacher Bummie!” Bomi’s voice rings from the front door and the teacher’s head snaps upon the call of his name. As he notices the adult standing behind the little girl, a pretty pale blush creeps up to his cheeks, covering them in pink.

“Hi, good morning, Kibum.” Jonghyun says, giving the teacher a shy smile. Kibum nods, his teeth coming out to worry over his lower lip to try and hold his smile but failing nonetheless.

Bomi glances back and forth between the two of them, yet she shrugs and says nothing.

 

 

 

 

“And then? What happened?” Kibum lifts Bomi up higher on his lap, smiling as the excited little girl is storytelling him what she had yesterday.

“And then grandpa bought Bomi ice cream! Grandma was mad because Bomi got too much but it was okay, because as long as Bomi was happy, they were happy too!” She recites her yesterday’s life event so freely, making Kibum envies her because he wants to tell her too that he was having the moment of his life with her father the night before.

Bomi starts telling him other things and Kibum listens carefully, while they cuddle and snuggle, waiting for the father of the girl to come and get her. School is over around twenty minutes ago and actually Kibum doesn’t mind to wait with Bomi, but today he finds himself being so impatient, and wanting to see the single father quickly.

The familiar sound of a car honking brings them back to the real life from the stories of fairies in the story book. Bomi gets back to her feet, waiting for the father to scoop her up into his arms. Kibum clears his throat, absentmindedly patting his clothes from any rumple.

“Hey, princess.” Jonghyun greets the girl, kissing her cheek with a loud noise. Bomi giggles loudly, pushing his face away.

“Hey… Kibum.” He then greets the frozen teacher with a shy smile. Kibum lifts a hand up shyly, lip trapped in between his teeth. “H-Hi.”

“Princess, do you mind waiting in the car for a while? Daddy has something to talk with your teacher.” Jonghyun mutters to the little girl, who is surprisingly so obedient.

With Bomi seated silently in the car, Jonghyun gives him a shy glance. “Hey, Kibum. Um, I hope Bomi didn’t give you a hard time today.”

Kibum chuckles at the empty talk, feeling very much like a pair of high school sweethearts. “No, don’t worry. She is a good kid. She just talks a bit too much sometimes, but she is cute so I can handle it.”

Jonghyun nods his head, smiling gently. He very slowly reaches for Kibum’s hand, very bravely holding onto it. Kibum waits for his next words, his heart thudding so quickly in his chest.

“Kibum, can we… go out for a date sometimes?” Jonghyun whispers softly, giving him a hopeful stare.

Kibum bites down on his lip. “Yeah, sure.”

The smile blooming on Jonghyun’s face makes him feels like he is doing the best thing in the whole world. If with him agreeing to date the single father could form numerous of those cute smiles, then Kibum would do anything to keep the smile on his face.

“Okay. I will tell you again about it later.”

“Okay.”

“We have to go now,” Jonghyun says, squeezing his hand in regret, “I will see you again later.”

“Hmm.” Kibum smiles, nodding his head.

The single father looks up, offering a cute grin, his round eyes twinkling. Kibum feels his heart constricts in his chest.

“Bye… Kibum.”

“Bye.” Kibum whispers, squeezing the father’s hand before releasing it fully. Jonghyun gives him a wave of his hand, and Kibum replies it with his own wave, shy and accompanied by his blushing face.

He stares as Jonghyun drives away from the school ground. Once the car is driving away, Kibum sighs fondly, holding a hand over his chest.

“So, you are not telling me something, huh?” A voice resonates by his ear and Kibum shrieks in surprise. He jabs his elbow to whoever standing behind him, out of reflect, before spinning around to find a crouching, writhing Jinki.

“Serve you right!” Kibum huffs, sticking his tongue out, before he skips happily back into the classroom to continue cleaning.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They are together, guys! Hehe thanks for reading! ^^

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter! Please spare the mistakes because this was written more than a year ago XD Hope you like this. Comments will be appreciated!  
> p.s.: class starts tomorrow so say goodbye to regular updates.


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